McCarthy denies making Fifa complaint

Mick McCarthy has denied the Republic of Ireland have complained to Fifa about their hotel and training facilities.

His side are preparing for Sunday's last-16 clash with Spain in Suwon.

Ireland arrived on a bumpy flight and manager McCarthy rejected the first training ground he was offered.

But the next one he was shown was acceptable and his squad began training there.

McCarthy said: "The facilities here are excellent and we are very happy. Contrary to suggestions, we have not made any complaint to Fifa and we have no concerns whatsoever about either our hotel or training facilities.

"There were three training grounds available, but Turkey had already taken one of them and I didn't like the second one, but the third is fine."

The Irish training camp is a military base 30 minutes outside of Seoul so there was a heavy presence of armed guards at Thursday's session.

There were also suggestions Ireland had been unhappy about the small plane which Fifa provided for their passage from Tokyo, which was affected by turbulence, but in truth only a much larger plane would have made a noticeable difference.